# St. Bruno / Condor to U.S.?



## doctorthoss (Jun 28, 2010)

Does anyone know of any way that a U.S. pipe smoker (me, obviously) can get a few sample packs of St. Bruno and Condor from the U.K.? I've been researching this some, and it appears that the U.K. vendors can't take credit cards and the process to purchase it is exceedingly onerous if possible at all. This isn't a shipping issue, as far as I can tell -- it's a payment issue, although I get the impression that some vendors just don't want to deal with the hassle. 
I find it odd those blends aren't distributed here, especially as so many other U.K. and E.U. blends are available many places in the U.S.


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## CWL (Mar 25, 2010)

Sounds like a lot of trouble & expense for OTC blends.

Perhaps you can find a UK member here willing to post it to you.

Any special reason you want to try them? - not that you have to have a reason.


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## doctorthoss (Jun 28, 2010)

I've been really getting into "Lakeland" blends lately and wanted to try them, as I understand they are extremely popular examplars of that type.

I don't understand why the fact they are "OTC" makes any difference -- they aren't OTC in the USA, and that doesn't necessarily denote quality, anyway. Until a few years ago, I was able to buy large tins of Balkan Sobranie at my neighborhood Wal-Mart and can still find tins of MacBaren at some of the discount cigarette shops here next to Prince Albert and Captain Black (I live in Knoxville, Tennessee). 

Yes -- if anyone from the UK would be willing to, say, make a trade for some G.L. Pease of Cornell & Diehl blends, that would be neat (I understand those are largely unavailable in the U.K.).


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## Commander Quan (May 6, 2003)

I tried doing this with a member of a different forum a couple months ago. But it fell through because the cost of tobacco in the UK is about 2x what we would pay from one of the online vendors in the states, and the cost to ship the tobacco would have doubled that price. Basically it was going to end up costing me over $30 for 100 Grams of St. Bruno.


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## CWL (Mar 25, 2010)

doctorthoss said:


> I don't understand why the fact they are "OTC" makes any difference -- they aren't OTC in the USA, and that doesn't necessarily denote quality, anyway. Until a few years ago, I was able to buy large tins of Balkan Sobranie at my neighborhood Wal-Mart and can still find tins of MacBaren at some of the discount cigarette shops here next to Prince Albert and Captain Black (I live in Knoxville, Tennessee).


Just curious, that's all.

I have also looked into buying tobacco from the UK & the EU, and the costs were more than double what would I pay for retail in CA (50g can sometimes get close to $20).

Just figured that if you were willing to pay that much, you may as well buy the SG & GH offerings.


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## doctorthoss (Jun 28, 2010)

Commander Quan said:


> I tried doing this with a member of a different forum a couple months ago. But it fell through because the cost of tobacco in the UK is about 2x what we would pay from one of the online vendors in the states, and the cost to ship the tobacco would have doubled that price. Basically it was going to end up costing me over $30 for 100 Grams of St. Bruno.


On the one hand, ouch. On the other hand, That's about what a tin of Ranier Long Golden Flake costs at my B&M and less than what a lot of GLP Pease blends go for on E-bay. Again, if someone has been wanting to make a large GLP sample order I think we could work out a swap of some kind, as I've a number of tins I was thinking about sending to Pipestud soon anyway ....


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## doctorthoss (Jun 28, 2010)

CWL said:


> Just curious, that's all.
> 
> I have also looked into buying tobacco from the UK & the EU, and the costs were more than double what would I pay for retail in CA (50g can sometimes get close to $20).
> 
> Just figured that if you were willing to pay that much, you may as well buy the SG & GH offerings.


I love the SH and GH offerings, especially the GH blends! Just wanted to try something different, that's all. 
BTW -- I'm one of those odd birds that's willing to shell out $$ for rare blends even though most of what I smoke on a daily basis are American OTCs (Prince Albert and CA). Oddly enough, though, most of my pipes are low- to mid-range briars. Twenty years of this hobby and my briar collection consists of seven Savs, a half-dozen Grabows, two Stanwells, two Bjarnes, and a single Dunhill Shell briar from the early '60s (although I am thinking of trying a Boswell or two). For some reason, my TAD greatly outweighs my PAD, so to speak....


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## MarkC (Jul 4, 2009)

Commander Quan said:


> I tried doing this with a member of a different forum a couple months ago. But it fell through because the cost of tobacco in the UK is about 2x what we would pay from one of the online vendors in the states, and the cost to ship the tobacco would have doubled that price. Basically it was going to end up costing me over $30 for 100 Grams of St. Bruno.


I thought I was really stretching out my St. Bruno Flake, but after reading this, I think I'll slow down even more. And yeah, it's an OTC, but it's not like any OTC here in the States.


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## rrb (Nov 23, 2008)

Pipe tobacco in spain is really cheap. Don't know about shipping, but if there's a nice spanish member maybe you could ask him.
Condor for example costs about 4€.


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## hunter1127 (Jan 11, 2006)

PM sent


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## laloin (Jun 29, 2010)

I have a packet of three nuns a friend brought back from the UK. it's not the same as the three nuns that dublinthedam smokes, but's a UK OTC as well heheh
troy


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## ric03 (Apr 30, 2011)

I'm from England and can send you some Condor/St Bruno (or anything else we have) if you're still interested? There are a few US toby's I'd be interested in trying, so looking more for a straight trade than to sell.
Rich.


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## doctorthoss (Jun 28, 2010)

ric03 said:


> I'm from England and can send you some Condor/St Bruno (or anything else we have) if you're still interested? There are a few US toby's I'd be interested in trying, so looking more for a straight trade than to sell.
> Rich.


Send me a PM -- definitely interested!


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## ric03 (Apr 30, 2011)

doctorthoss said:


> Send me a PM -- definitely interested!


Glad to hear it! I can't yet, though, as I've only joined today (after reading your post!) I'm not sure I'd be able to reply if you PM'd me, either, so if you want to drop me an email instead I'm rikg73 at gmail. 
Rich.


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## pffintuff (Apr 20, 2011)

I don't know. I try to avoid international purchasing when possible.


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## doctorthoss (Jun 28, 2010)

pffintuff said:


> I don't know. I try to avoid international purchasing when possible.


 Why? This would be a trade between individuals, not "international purchasing."


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## Commander Quan (May 6, 2003)

Anyone going outside of the forums to trade is doing so at your own risk. I am always leary of people who show up and want to trade in their first post. I am not saying every new person is a risky trade, just that the guidelines on this site are there for a reason, and that is to protect the members as best as possible from being taken advantage of.


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## ric03 (Apr 30, 2011)

Commander Quan said:


> Anyone going outside of the forums to trade is doing so at your own risk. I am always leary of people who show up and want to trade in their first post. I am not saying every new person is a risky trade, just that the guidelines on this site are there for a reason, and that is to protect the members as best as possible from being taken advantage of.


I can certainly understand your concerns, but I wouldn't expect anyone to send any toby to me until they'd first recieved theirs. I've been thinking of posting for a like-for-like trade with someone from the US for a while, and this seemed like a good opportunity.

I'm also on the pipe smokers forum (with this same ID) and, though I don't contribute too often, I should have posted enough for anyone to see I'm a genuine pipe smoker.


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